Dearborn council OKs sale of City Hall for $1.65M after boisterous meeting

Jul. 23, 2013

Dearborn City Hall / Detroit Free Press file photo

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Detroit Free Press Staff Writer

Over the objections of some angry residents, Dearborn's City Council voted Tuesday night to sell its historic City Hall for $1.65 million to Artspace, a national nonprofit group that develops art studios.

The council voted 5-1 to approve the sale of the 91-year-old building.

Saying their City Hall is old and unfit for modern use, city officials want to move from their current location on Michigan Avenue to a site near the police station and Henry Ford Centennial Library. The city last year bought the ADP (Automatic Data Processing) office building for $3.2 million and intends to move there, letting the current City Hall be transformed into dozens of art studios.

But some residents call the move a wasteful project that will cost money that could be otherwise used for city services. And they said city officials have not been open with the public about their plans.

“There is something wrong here,” said Steve Dobkowski, a Dearborn resident who’s running for City Council, at the meeting. “I’m warning you: people are not happy with this.”

Dearborn resident Lee Jacobsen also voiced concern about the sale.

“Government likes to do grandiose things” that can cost taxpayers, Jacobsen said. City Hall is a treasured building that should not be sold, he said, and he accused city officials of being secretive about the project.

But city officials say they need to move because maintenance costs are too high in the current City Hall, with its high ceilings that make heating and cooling a challenge.

Mayor Jack O’Reilly Jr. said “there are so many falsehoods” about the plan being circulated. “This is a long-term investment” that will help Dearborn, he said.

Council President Tom Tafelski was the only no vote. He said City Hall is an “institution and our heritage.”

Instead of selling it, the city “should make this better and more efficient,” Tafelski said.

Kristyn Taylor, a City Council candidate, opposes the plan. She said she has conducted an online survey of about 170 residents and found that 68% oppose the plan.

O'Reilly interjected: “That's not a scientific survey.”

Another point of contention involves more than $8 million that Severstal, a steel company, has given to the city as a part of an agreement for naming rights in a building. The city wants to use that money for the Artspace project and the new City Hall, which will be called the Dearborn Administrative Center. But some residents say that money should be used to reopen closed pools and libraries, or for city services.

Councilman David Bazzy defended the plan, saying that the current area around City Hall is “decaying.” He wants to “make this a better corridor.”